From a medieval chess piece to a long-lost Fabergé egg, these items were purchased at thrift stores and flea markets for as little as $2 — then turned out to be priceless artifacts.
Robert K. Chin – Storefronts / Alamy Stock PhotoA second-hand thrift store in Manhattan’s East Village.
When shoppers peruse their local thrift stores, they aren’t usually expecting to find rare historical artifacts. For these 11 lucky thrifters, however, that’s exactly what happened.
Discoveries ranging from Qing dynasty jars to a painting by David Bowie cost lucky shoppers mere pennies and then fetched thousands of dollars at auction. One man even happened upon a royal relic worth a stunning $33 million.
It’s unclear how or why these thrift store artifacts ended up on shelves surrounded by chipped mugs and dusty frames rather than in museums. But these buyers are glad they did.
A Maryland Woman Finds An Ancient Maya Vase
Anna Lee DozierThe ancient Maya vase purchased by Anna Lee Dozier at a Maryland thrift store.
In 2019, Anna Lee Dozier purchased a unique vase at the 2A Thrift Store in Clinton, Maryland, on clearance for $3.99.
Dozier had previous experience working as an advocate for Indigenous communities in Mexico, so she recognized and was attracted to the vase’s Maya motifs.
“I could see that it had some kind of link to Mexico, in terms of what it looked like, and since it’s a country that I work on and it’s really important to me, I thought it would be just a nice little thing to take home and put on the shelf and to remind me of Mexico,” she told NPR in 2024.
The thrift store artifact sat on display in her home for several years before she began questioning its origins. After seeing similar items in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City in January 2024, Dozier contacted the Mexican embassy and sent them photos and measurements of the vase. To her shock, the embassy confirmed that it was an authentic Maya artifact.
The vase dates back at least 1,200 years. It was crafted between 200 and 800 C.E. during the Classic period of the Maya civilization.
Dozier decided to return the vase to the Mexican government. “I am thrilled to have played a part in its repatriation story,” she said. “I would like it to go back to its rightful place and to where it belongs, but I also want it out of my home because I have three little boys… I was petrified that after 2,000 years I would be the one to wreck it!”
